THEDAILYWHISKY

The SMWS Blender’s Notebook (Batch 44) is the first blended Scotch whisky ever released by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. It is an 18-year-old blend of roughly 70% malt and 30% grain whisky, bottled at 50% ABV, with around 60% of the blend drawn from sherry casks (oloroso and PX) and 40% from bourbon casks. Part of the Society’s experimental Heresy series, it costs €102 on the SMWS EU store and is available to members online and in the Society’s Members’ Rooms now.

For 43 years, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society has been the home of the single cask. Now it has bottled a blend.

The SMWS Blender’s Notebook is Batch 44 in the Society’s Heresy range, and it is exactly what the name suggests: a full blended Scotch whisky, malt and grain together, built by the Society’s own whisky team. It is 18 years old, bottled at 50% ABV and carries a malt content of around 70%, which puts it firmly at the richer, more malt-driven end of what blended Scotch can be.

The key facts

Name: The Blender’s Notebook (Heresy Batch 44)

Style: Blended Scotch whisky Age: 18 years ABV: 50%

Composition: around 70% malt whisky, 30% grain whisky

Casks: second-fill and refill bourbon, PX and oloroso barrels, hogsheads and a butt (around 60% sherry wood, 40% bourbon wood) Size: 70cl

Price: €102 (SMWS EU store)

Availability: SMWS members, online and in Members’ Rooms, from October 2026

What is the Blender’s Notebook, and why is it a big deal for SMWS?

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 with a simple idea: bottle whisky straight from a single cask, at natural strength, and let members taste each cask’s individual character. That idea is still the core of everything the Society does.

It is also why SMWS bottles look so different from anything else on the shelf. Instead of distillery names, single cask bottlings carry a code. The first number identifies the distillery, the second tells you which cask from that distillery the Society has bottled, so 35.167 is the 167th cask the Society has released from distillery number 35. Each bottle also carries a playful name and a colour-coded flavour profile, which guides members towards the style in the glass rather than the name on the gate. We have built our own SMWS codes distillery list for exactly that reason.

A blend does not fit that code system, and that is the point. Since 2017, the Heresy series has been the Society’s space for releases that step outside its own single cask rules, from blended malts to batched bottlings. The Blender’s Notebook goes one step further than any of them: it is the first time SMWS has added grain whisky into the mix and produced a true blended Scotch.

How the Blender’s Notebook came together

According to the Society, the idea started with former Whisky Director Kai Ivalo, who retired in June 2026 after championing the Heresy range since its launch. A Society blended Scotch was on his bucket list, with one condition: if SMWS were going to do it, it should be a high-malt blend with old-school character.

Then a cask supplier offered something unusual: a sherry butt filled with the blended base of a long-gone blended Scotch whisky, still at batch strength, which had been resting in that sherry wood for around two decades.

Head of Whisky Euan Campbell built the recipe around that butt. He added 27-year-old grain whisky and a selection of malts at around 18 years old, matured in bourbon wood, American oak PX casks and Spanish oak oloroso casks. The result is a blend with roughly a decade of age spread between its youngest and oldest components, which the Society credits for the whisky’s layered character and silky texture. Kai Ivalo signed off the recipe before he retired, so the release doubles as a farewell to the man behind Heresy.

What makes it different: a blend built like a Society bottling

Blended Scotch is usually reduced to 40% or 43% ABV. The Blender’s Notebook is bottled at 50%, a strength the Society uses across its Heresy batches and one that keeps the oils, texture and sherry depth intact. It also leaves room for water, which the Society’s own notes suggest changes the whisky considerably.

The other headline is the malt content. At around 70% malt, this sits far above the typical blend, and the 60/40 split in favour of sherry wood points towards dried fruit, nuts and cocoa sitting on top of the bourbon cask’s coconut and vanilla.

The label deserves a mention too. It is a deliberate homage to classic blended Scotch labels, complete with thistles, a “Fine & Old” banner, “Special Reserve” and “Deluxe Blend” ribbons, and the old line about being distilled and bottled under government supervision. At the centre sits a monogram framing The Vaults, the Society’s historic home at 87 Giles Street in Leith. It is a playful, affectionate nod to the heritage of blended Scotch, and it looks brilliant on the shelf.

SMWS Blender’s Notebook tasting notes

We have not tasted Batch 44 yet. The notes below are the Society’s own tasting panel notes.

SMWS Blender’s Notebook (Batch 44): tasting notes (SMWS)

Nose: linseed oil, apricot jam tarts, greengage plums, sliced brioche, pineapple cubes, after-dinner chocolate mints

Palate: honeyed melon, Madeira cake, sponge fingers dipped in coconut cream, candied pecans, chocolate-covered prunes, yoghurt raisins

With water: vanilla fudge, crème pâtissière doughnuts, old-style sherry wood, walnut oil, ginger wine, tiramisu, toasted marshmallow; then orange and peach in caramel, coconut water, mascarpone, marjoram, chervil, aniseed balls

Finish: long and drying, with a wisp of tobacco smoke ABV: 50% | Casks: bourbon, PX and oloroso (approx. 40/60 bourbon/sherry) | Price: €102

The cask recipe explains a lot of that list. The coconut, vanilla fudge and honeyed melon are classic American oak and bourbon cask territory, while the prunes, pecans, walnut oil and cocoa come from the oloroso, PX and Spanish oak. The 27-year-old grain is likely where the silkiness and the lighter patisserie notes come from.

Why we are excited to try this one

SMWS is close to our hearts. We are members, and we have spent many evenings in the Society’s rooms in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. What keeps bringing us back is the atmosphere: a room full of people who care about what is in the glass, a menu written in codes and colours, and the freedom to taste a cask you will probably never see again.

That spirit of discovery is exactly what the Blender’s Notebook carries into a new category. The Society has spent four decades showing what a single cask can do. Turning that same curiosity towards blending, with old grain, a mystery blended base and a recipe built around a single sherry butt, feels like a very Society way to celebrate the craft of the blender. We will be tasting it as soon as we can, and we will report back.

Price and availability

The SMWS Blender’s Notebook is priced at €102 on the SMWS EU store. As with all Society bottlings, you need an SMWS membership to buy it. It is available online through the UK and EU stores and in the Society’s Members’ Rooms, which include Queen Street and The Vaults in Edinburgh, Bath Street in Glasgow and Greville Street in London. Members outside the UK and EU should check with their local SMWS branch, as availability varies by market.

The bottle count has not been published at the time of writing, but Heresy batches are limited by nature. If it is on your list, do not wait too long.

Is it worth it?

For an 18-year-old whisky at 50% ABV with around 70% malt and a large share of sherry wood, €102 is a very fair price. This is one for SMWS members who already love the Society’s sherried single casks, for anyone curious about how far a high-malt blend can go, and for collectors following the Heresy series. If your Society purchases are driven purely by the single cask code, this is the release that might change your mind about what the Society can do.

Frequently asked questions

What is the SMWS Blender’s Notebook? The Blender’s Notebook is Batch 44 in the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Heresy series and the first blended Scotch whisky the Society has ever released. It is an 18-year-old blend of around 70% malt and 30% grain whisky, bottled at 50% ABV and matured in bourbon, oloroso and PX casks.

What does the Blender’s Notebook taste like? The Society’s tasting panel describes a nose of apricot jam tarts, greengage, brioche and chocolate mints, and a palate of honeyed melon, Madeira cake, coconut cream, candied pecans and chocolate-covered prunes. With water it turns silkier, with vanilla fudge, orange, peach and herbal notes, before a drying, tobacco-tinged finish.

How much does the SMWS Blender’s Notebook cost? The Blender’s Notebook costs €102 for a 70cl bottle on the SMWS EU store. UK pricing is listed on smws.com for members. Like every Society bottling, it can only be bought with an active SMWS membership, either online or in one of the Society’s Members’ Rooms in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.

What casks are used in the Blender’s Notebook? The blend draws on second-fill and refill bourbon casks, American oak PX casks and Spanish oak oloroso casks, in barrels, hogsheads and a butt. Around 60% of the blend comes from sherry wood and 40% from bourbon wood, including a sherry butt that held an old blended Scotch base for roughly two decades.

Why does the Blender’s Notebook not have an SMWS code? SMWS single cask bottlings use a code where the first number identifies the distillery and the second identifies the cask. A blend combines whisky from several distilleries, including grain whisky, so it does not fit that system. Instead, it is released as a numbered batch, Batch 44, within the Society’s Heresy series.

What is the SMWS Heresy series? Heresy is the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s experimental range, launched in 2017, for releases that break the Society’s own single cask rules. It has included blended malts and batched bottlings, typically at 50% ABV. The Blender’s Notebook is the first Heresy release, and the first Society bottling ever, to be a full blended Scotch whisky.